Fountain pen



May 26, 1964 T. KOVACS FOUNTAIN PEN Filed Sept. 15, 1961 Fig. 7

s C T O m K n 00 m V Wm 16 F V United States Patent 3,134,363 FOUNTAIN PEN Theodor Kovacs, 19 Nottelmann-Ufer, Hannover-Buchholz, Germany Filed Sept. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 138,433 Claims priority, application Germany Sept. 23, 1960 1 Claim. (Cl. 120-456) This invention relates to improvements in or relating to a fountain pen and more particularly to a fountain pen comprising a nozzle axially disposed on the front portion of a hollow body inserted into the front barrel part of the fountain pen and surrounding an ink delivery bar, and an overflow chamber around the rear portion of said hollow body.

With the kind of fountain pen described, it is usual to introduce air into said overflow chamber directly, either through the mouth of the fountain pen, or through a radial bore in the wall of the barrel. However, in either case, there is likelihood that the ink may spill from the overflow chamber. On the other hand, if air is introduced through said radial bore, then the pen is incapable of being properly closed by the cover alone, which is screwed on the mouth of the fountain pen.

The purpose and object of the present invention is to prevent the ink in a fountain pen of the kind described from spilling and at the same time to allow the fountain pen to be substantially hermetically closed at the mouth thereof.

According to the present invention, this problem is solved in that the middle portion of said hollow body inserted into the front part of the fountain pen barrel is tightly connected with the bar-rel wall surrounding said middle portion, and in that the free front portion of said hollow body is provided with an air inlet port laterally disposed of a capillary axial ink channel or bore in a nipple of the free front portion of said hollow body, for leading ink to said nozzle and to the nib of the pen, said air inlet port communicating with a longitudinal air channel in the ink delivery bar extending to a transverse bore which is provided in the wall of the rear portion of said hollow body and opens in the overflow chamber.

An embodiment of the fountain pen according to the invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the front part of the fountain pen; and

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line l-I--II of FIG. 21.

Referring to the figures, 1 is a front part of the barrel of a fountain pen, 2 is a hollow body inserted into the front part of said barrel, a middle portion 3 of said hollow body being tightly connected with the wall of said barrel surrounding said middle portion. A free front portion 4 of said hollow body is provided with an axially disposed nozzle 5 having a support member 5'. The hollow body 2 is provided with a wide axial bore in which an ink delivery bar 6 is disposed. The outer diameter of said bar is less than the inside diameter of the wide bore so that a narrow intermediate space 7 of an annular crosssection is defined between said bar and the wall of the bore to serve for delivering ink from an ink reservoir to a capillary axial bore 8 in a nipple 8' on the free front portion 4 of said hollow body 2. The reservoir is conventionally provided in the closed rear part of the barrel (not shown in detail).

A sleeve 9 inserted into the front part 1 of the barrel from behind surrounds a rear portion 10 of said hollow body 2 and divides the space between said hollow body 2 and the wall of the barrel into two longitudinal intermediate spaces 11 connected with each other by means of a bore 11', as well as with said reservoir and conjointly forming the overflow chamber 11. The free front portion 4 of said hollow body 2 is provided with an air inlet port 12 laterally disposed of the axial bore 8. The ink delivery bar 6 is provided with a wide air channel 13- extending from the air inlet port 12 to a transverse bore 14' in the wall of the rear portion 10 of said hollow body 2 and opens in the overflow chamber 11. The support member 5' of the nozzle 5 is provided with a bore 15 permit-ting air to enter the air inlet port '12.

Due to the tight connection of the portion 3 of said hollow body 2 with the wall of the fountain pen barrel surrounding said center portion 3, the overflow chamber is hermetically sealed at its front end. Air is introduced into said overflow chamber through port 12, the adjoining longitudinal channel 13 and the transverse bore 14. The width of the longitudinal channel 13 is such that its capillary potential is considerably less than that of the overflow chamber 11. Consequently, the ink in the overflow chamber is prevented from flowing into said air channel 13 and hence from spilling from the frontally and laterally closed overflow chamber. The fountain pen may be closed hermetically at its mouth by means of a cover (not shown) adapted to be placed onto an edge 16 of said mouth.

The middle portion 3 of said hollow body 2 may be either sealingly inserted into the mouth of the fountain pen and pasted or glued therein, or formed of one piece with the barrel so that in the latter case the rear end 10 of said hollow body 2 should be inserted into the barrel from behind as a separate member.

What I claim is:

In a fountain pen, the combination of a barrel having an ink reservoir in the rear part thereof, a hollow body inserted in the front part of said barrel and having a free front, a middle and a rear body portion, said middle body portion being in tight connection with the wall of said barrel surrounding said middle body portion, an overflow chamber around said rear body portion, frontally and laterally hermetically closed and communicating with said ink reservoir, an ink delivery bar in said hollow body having a longitudinal air channels therein, said free front body portion having a nipple provided with a capillary axial bore in capillary communication with said ink reser-voir, an adjoining axially disposed nozzle in commu- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,766,729 Kovacs Oct. 16, 1956 2,891,512 Kovacs June 23, 1959 2,935,969 Kovacs May 10, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 207,873 Australia Nov. 29, 1956 950,633 France Mar. 28, 1949 

